Two Poems by Octavio Paz
……….. DAYBREAK
Hands and lips of wind
heart of water
………………….. eucalyptus
campground of the clouds
the life that is born everyday
the death that is born every life
I rub my eyes:
the sky walks the land
……….. NIGHTFALL
What sustains it,
half-open, the clarity of nightfall,
the light let loose in the gardens?
All the branches,
conquered by the weight of birds,
lean toward the darkness.
Pure, self-absorbed moments
still gleam
on the fences.
Receiving night,
the groves become
hushed fountains.
A bird falls,
the grass grows dark,
edges blur, lime is black,
the world is less credible.
Octavio Paz
from The Collected Poems, 1957-1987
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